In
the United States, we have separation of church and state. However, there are many cases in which the
two overlap. The entire point of
Europeans coming to America was to escape a governmental rule over their
religion, and their values, which have been passed down through generations,
were shaped by their respective religions. Now we see evidence of religious
ideas becoming evidence for political arguments. Should this be happening? Are arguments based on religion universally
valid? It’s interesting to contemplate
these questions, and to narrow our view of current issues to see the extent of
how personal values have encroached on political territory.
One
of the main issues where I see this is in the argument over marriage
rights. Those with more liberal leanings
argue for civil liberties for homosexuals, saying that the ability to marry is
a right of all citizens. On the other
hand, those with more conservative political ideals argue that allowing homosexuals
to marry would undermine the tradition of marriage. To back this up, they take evidence from the
bible or other religious texts to show that marriage should be between one man
and one woman. The two sides are backed
by incredibly different arguments taking proof and ideas from very different
places, and both are supported by large amounts of people. I think this is a great example of how
beliefs and values have an effect on the political sphere of a nation.
We
talked in class about the idea of a divide between traditional and secular
values. In traditional societies,
religion is an important part of life, and most values are based off those
beliefs. Due to this, there are strict
rules on childrearing and issues of divorce, abortion, etc. In these traditional societies most everyone
holds the same ideals, or at least similar ones. This shows quite a bit of unity in how people
act and think. Thus, it would seem that
there is little room for variety in a traditional culture.
In
a secular culture, however, religion is really pushed to the side in the focus
of how people should behave.
Childrearing is much less strict, and focused on allowing for
self-expression and development of individual ideas. There is a much more lenient view toward tough
issues such as divorce and abortion.
Overall, the main consensus would be that people can make choices based
on what is best for them, rather than what would traditionally be seen as right
or wrong. A secular culture provides for
a lot of diversity and self-exploration.
In
the U.S., I believe that we have developed from a primarily traditional society
to an increasingly secular one. When the
first settlers came to America, they came in groups based on their religions. Thus, it only seems fitting that religion
would be the basis for governing the individual colonies. However, with the separation of church and
state as we became a nation dealt a blow to that traditional culture. Industrialization and modernization saw
people focusing less on their spiritual well being and more on their material
desires. With industrialization came a
consumer society, which in turn produced a consumer society focused on material
goods. This led to the diminishing focus
on traditional values for controlling how people should act.
It
is important to remember, however, that transforming into a secularized nation
does not mean that everyone has lost sight of traditional values. There will always be a divide between
traditional and secular minded people, as is clearly illustrated in the debate
over marriage equality. The overlap of
church and state, formed through maintenance of traditional as well as secular
values, obviously has an effect on politics and how decisions are made in this
country. The question is to what extent
do the different values have an impact on the making of big decisions?
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